The Best New Books to Read in December

The days are getting shorter, the weather's getting chillier, and we can't think of a better excuse to huddle under a cozy blanket with a mug of tea and a good book: From a dark modern fairytale to an ode to one of the greatest female mathematicians of all time, you'll find something to suit your taste in this month's most-anticipated new releases.

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'The Vanishing Princess' by Jenny Diski

For those who fell in love with Jenny Diski's style in her 2016 memoir of her terminal cancer diagnosis, this posthumous short story collection reveals another facet of the idiosyncratic British author and essayist. The dozen woman-focused short stories range from feminist takes on fairytale heroines (her version of Rumpelstiltskin features a miller's daughter who seems born for the Fortune 500) to more contemporary musings, including the tale of one woman's dogged pursuit of the perfect bath. Delightful, diverting, and thought-provoking, this collection is bound to inspire a whole new set of Diski fans.

The Vanishing Princess by Jenny Diski, $11, amazon.com on December 5. Shop

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Record of a Night Too Brief by Hiromi Kawakami

More a series of novellas than a collection of short stories, this fall down Hiromi Kawakami's rabbit hole leads to involuntarily-shapeshifting protagonists, mystical snake housekeepers, talking dolls, and vase-obsessed families, all wrapped up in a framework of magical-realism that plays traditional folklore off a particularly urban sense of modern spiritual unmooring.

Record of a Night Too Brief by Hiromi Kawakami, $11, amazon.com on December 5. Shop

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No Time to Spare by Ursula K. Le Guin

From one of the biggest names in modern sci-fi literature comes this truly unexpected collection of musings on creativity, aging, politics, and the oddities of cat ownership. Pulled from posts on Le Guin's personal blog, her clever observations and sharp, nimble prose provide a window into the interior life of the award-winning novelist, including her antipathy toward the search for the next great American novel and her disdain (from which the book earns its title) for the idea that any time spent living is "spare."

No Time to Spare by Ursula K. Le Guin, $15, amazon.com on December 5. Shop

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Elmet by Fiona Mozley

Not many debut novels can claim a spot on the Man Booker Prize shortlist, but that achievement is just one of the things that makes Fiona Mozley's lyrical, noir-esque tale exceptional. The story follows Daniel, his sister Cathy, and their gargantuan, bare-knuckle-boxer father as they eke out a life off the grid in modern-day England and gradually face off against a group of landowners bent on changing their way of life. The lilting beauty of Mozley's prose combined with the casual, matter-of-fact violence that accompanies the characters' lives brings to mind a time when fairytales were filled with dark forests and bloody deeds—a perfect antidote to holiday sugar-and-spice overload.

Rich and complex, the latest novel from beloved author Elif Shafak follows the tale of Peri, a middle-aged Muslim woman living in Istanbul. After she's attacked on the street, she begins looking back on her college years, and through her memory, the story finds itself at Oxford several decades earlier. This younger version of Peri considers her place in the world alongside her two best friends, the sensualist Shirin and devout Mona, as well as her relationship with her charming theology professor Azur. Through them, Shafak explores themes of femininity and spirituality and extremism and political oppression in a way that feels thoughtful and refreshing.

Three Daughters of Eve by Elif Shafak, $19, amazon.com on December 5. Shop

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Spy of the First Person by Sam Shepard

Echoes of True West and Buried Child lurk around corners and in the dusty, windswept streets of famed playwright/author/actor Sam Shepard's final, posthumous novel. A lyrical playfulness with turns of phrase, a Eugene O'Neill-ian preoccupation with displacement within one's own family, and a heavy, uniquely American-flavored sense of place pervade this slender volume like the lingering aftertaste of burnt Folgers coffee. A must-read for theater-buffs and Shepard fans alike.

Spy of the First Person by Sam Shepard, $18, amazon.com on December 5.Shop

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Enchantress of Numbers by Jennifer Chiaverini

The latest historical novel from New York Times-bestselling author Jennifer Chiaverini sets its sights on Ada Lovelace, considered by many the mother of computer science (as well as the only legitimate child of the poet Lord Byron). Framed as Ada's memoir, the story follows her childhood under the thumb of an overprotective mother—who feared any hint of fancifulness would lead Ada down the same disastrous path as her father—and the struggles of being a brilliant woman in a period where her achievements were constantly undercut, to her ultimate acceptance of her father's influence on her uniquely talented mind. While Lovelace may not have received the credit she was due in her own time-period, Chiaverini's novel stands as a fitting ode to one of the greatest women in the history of science.

Enchantress of Numbers by Jennifer Chiaverini, $18, amazon.com on December 5. Shop

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